1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a control system for a battery assembly having a plurality of batteries, and a method of determining reuse of the battery assembly.
2. Description of Related Art
A battery that supplies electric power to a motor for running a vehicle is installed on an electric vehicle, or a hybrid vehicle. The battery deteriorates due to repeated charge and discharge. According to a technology disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-007348 (JP 2003-007348 A), for example, the user pays only a deposit for a new battery, and purchases the battery that is in a fully charged state, from a dealer. Then, if the user brings the battery that has been used, to the dealer, the amount of electricity used is calculated at the dealer, based on the remaining capacity of the used battery. The user pays for the calculated amount of electricity used. Then, the used battery recovered from the vehicle is checked for its deterioration level. If it is possible to continue to use the battery, the battery is recharged and sold again at the dealer. If it is not possible to continue to use the battery, the battery is sent from the dealer to a manufacturer where it is recycled.
The dealer determines the deterioration level of the battery, thereby to prevent the battery having a reduced usable life due to its deterioration from being undesirably sold to the user by mistake. In JP 2003-007348 A, the number of times of charging, full charge capacity value, and the number of years for which the battery has been used, are disclosed as evaluation parameters used for evaluating the deterioration level of the battery.